


Meeting the Team

by bookfairy_writes



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-26 23:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2670026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookfairy_writes/pseuds/bookfairy_writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reid introduces Shannon to the team at a little party Rossi throws.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting the Team

"How do I look?" Shannon asked, stepping out of her bedroom. In a long sleeved dress, pale blue with a darker lace over it, her hair curled and pinned up she turned in front of Ried, interrupting him as he began to say how lovely she looked.

"No, this doesn't look right."

"Shannon, we need to leave in ten minutes."

"I'm supposed to meet your team for the first time. I want to make sure I look all right."

"They're not going to care."

"They're your friends and they'll be able to read me. I want to make a good first impression."

"They're going to like you."

"I need to change, you said over fifty percent of a first impression is based on appearance."

"That's true, but--"

"It's fine, I know what to wear. Something I feel uncomfortable in will give off an air of discomfort, right? I'll just wear one of the outfits I give public lectures in."

She vanished back into her room and Reid could hear her going through her closet, hangers clicking against each other and the swish of fabric.

"We're going to be late."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

When she emerged again, she was pulling the pins from her hair, letting the curls she had spent hours on fall loosely around her shoulders. Fitted black trousers and a grey cashmere sweater with a cowl neck gave her an air of relaxed grace and she wore the pendant Reid had gotten her for her birthday around her neck. In Greek letters, it read 'Eudaimonia' etched into the sterling silver disc. Pulling another pin from her hair, she balanced on one foot to put on a shoe.

"Is this good?"

"You look beautiful."

"I was aiming for 'not a serial killer.'"

"You've achieved that effect too."

Shoes on, she pulled another pin from her hair and reached for her coat by the door.

"Thanks for coming over early."

"I'm taking you there, it wasn't much trouble."

"Thanks anyway."

Spencer shrugged and opened the door, letting Shannon step into the hall. As she locked the door to her apartment, he reached out and pulled the last pin from her hair, dropping a perfectly coiled curl to rest against the collar of her coat.

"Lead the way."

 

 

David Rossi's house was larger than she expected and when she lifted her hand to knock, Ried shook his head and opened the door.

"Are we late?"

"Almost," Rossi replied from the kitchen. "You beat Morgan here. Hang up your coats and come on in."

Shannon placed her coat on the hook next to Reid's and fingered her pendant before wiping her hands on her pants, eliminating any sweat before following her friend through the living room to the kitchen.

"You must be Shannon," the dark-haired man said, smiling. "I'm David." He extended a hand and Shannon shook it over the counter.

"It smells great," she said and was surprised to hear him respond in Italian instead of English.

"Reid says you're a linguist. Do you speak Italian?"

Fumbling through the words she recognized and similar ones in latin, she quickly pieced together a response that resembled sense before switching back to English.

"Not really. Latin and Spanish are the closest I have."

"Not bad. This is Aaron Hotchner, Jennifer Jareau, Kate Callahan, and Penelope Garcia."

Shaking hands one by one, she smiled at each of Spencer's coworkers/family members in turn.

"A linguist huh? What languages do you speak?"

"Fluently? Latin, Spanish, Russian, Gaelic, French, Arabic, German, Greek, Dutch, and a dialect only used by a few Native American peoples. And English, of course."

"Of course," Jennifer (call me JJ) said with a laugh. "What do you do with all that?"

"A couple of different things. My master's thesis was on the study of language evolution, comparing Latin and Greek--how one language died while the other evolved.  My doctoral thesis was on the evolution of different American dialects through the Age of Technology. I teach a class at George Mason for one semester every year, I translate books and papers, and I do some work for IDEA--the international Dialects of English Archive. I keep busy."

"I can tell," came a warm voice from the door. "You must be Shannon. Reid's mentioned you."

"Good things I hope. You must be...Morgan?"

"Derek," he replied. "And yes, all good things. You gave a lecture on the speech patterns of psychopaths?"

"No, actually. That presentation was given by two colleagues of mine, I just translated the paper they used as the base for the lecture."

"But that's where you two met."

"Yes," she smiled and glanced at Reid, who looked a little embarassed.

"All right, everyone, the only one grilling tonight is me. Let her have some air," Rossi called. "The lamb is nearly done and the table is set. Everyone find a glass and I'm sure you'll find the wine."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Penelope said with a laugh. Glasses clinked and wine flowed, sweetening the air with its scent. When they were all seated, David carried in a wooden tray with a lamb shank on it, herbs dusted lightly over it.

"My mother used to make lamb a lot like this," he said as he picked up the carving knife. "I haven't managed to replicate her recipe, but it's pretty damn close."

Shannon had never had his mother's lamb, but the bite she took was the best-tasting lamb she'd ever had. Her surprise must have showed because Morgan laughed, watching her and Kate's looks of wonder.

"Rossi can cook, ladies."

Kate nodded and Shannon swallowed, turning to her host.

"It's incredible. I'm not particularly fond of lamb, but this is delicious."

"Why thank you."

David raised his wine glass.

"A toast."

He paused, waiting for everyone to finish chewing and raise their glasses as well.

"To new friends and old, to many years of companionship, and for our wine to never grow sour."

"Hear hear," Morgan laughed and they all drank.

The dinner party went on for a long time. Stories and jokes were traded as freely as the wine, and Shannon felt a jolt of pleasure in making Spencer's friends laugh when telling a story about not realizing she was speaking the wrong language.

"You didn't know?" Penelope asked again, laughing, and Shannon shook her head.

"I was thinking in latin and these people are staring at me like I've grown a second head. I was working in one of the libraries trying to make an evolutionary language timeline for my thesis. I've been reading latin for at least 4 hours and when I got out and needed directions to a cafe, I forgot to speak Greek!"

Laughter rolled pleasantly around the table.

"That reminds me of the time I was working in Chicago and I had to bring in some kids for tagging a building. They decided to pretend they couldn't speak English even though I had watched them paint "Fuck the police" in bright orange on the side of a factory. When their mothers got there, ooh." Derek winced.

"I don't know what they said to their boys, but that was the most dedicated community service I have seen in my life!"

More laughter and Kate picked up with a story of her own. Before she knew it, JJ was standing up.

"I told Will I'd be back by eleven, so I've got to go."

"We should probably get going too," Spencer said, also standing. Shannon stood with him.

"Let me use the restroom before we go."

"Down the hall, first door on the left," David told her.

"Thank you."

Once she vanished, Reid looked at his friends around the table, seeking approval.

"She's really cool, Reid," Garcia said.

"Seems like a nice girl," Rossi added, "Don't let go of that one. This is coming from a guy who has been married a few times."

"We're just friends," Reid said. 

"All right pretty boy," Morgan told him with a chuckle. "But if you ever decide you want to change that, you come talk to me."

The bathroom door opened and Reid looked embarrassed for a moment before turning.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes, in a moment. Thank you for dinner, it was wonderful. And it was really nice to meet you all."

"The pleasure was all ours," David told her. "We'll have Reid bring you along to the next one."

"Sounds great."

She followed Reid to the door and slipped her coat on, hearing the dining room conversation begin to dissolve into statements about cleaning up and leaving before the door closed and she was out on the porch.

"They were really nice, Spencer."

"Yeah, they liked you a lot."

"I'm glad. I stayed up way past my bedtime for them."

"You know, despite historically being popular, your sleep schedule isn't really suited to the age of electricity."

"And despite being historically a pain, you really aren't suited to telling me what to do."

Shaking his head, Reid offered her his hand as they walked down the stairs and towards the street.

"I'm glad you had a good time."

"Me too."


End file.
